Teen househelp shot dead in Manila’s Quiapo district

MANILA, Philippines—A 19-year-old househelp was gunned down and killed Saturday afternoon at the Islamic Center compound in Quiapo, Manila.

Househelp Annaliza Lacerda, 19, a native of Lanao del Sur, died from multiple gunshot wounds as she was riding a kuliglig (motorized pedicab) from the compound on Carlos Palanca street in Quiapo district.

She was shot several times by a gunman who had apparently waited for her, as the pedicab was driving along Macabinbinan street, near the corner of a wet market and the Barangay 648, Zone 67, hall, case investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Benito Cabatbat, of the Manila Police District Homicide section, said.

Lacerda died on the spot.

The driver of the kuliglig, Saydamin Paniambaan, told police the victim seemed like she was crying when she boarded the pedicab. She carried with her a brown bag which, when opened by police, contained clothes and accessories.

Paniambaan himself managed to take cover from the gunfire, with his pedicab motor taking most of the bullets. But his back rider, fellow kuliglig driver Abdul Rahman Tumawis, 19, was hit in the upper arm. Tumawis was taken to the Mary Chiles General Hospital.

Witnesses described the gunman as 5’5″ to 5’7″ in height, slim, with brown complexion, and wearing a striped shirt and denim pants. He remained unidentified.

Recovered from the scene were three empty bullet shells believed to have been fired from a .40-cal. handgun, and four deformed slugs.

Police have yet to identify Lacerda’s employers, but they believe she worked somewhere at the Islamic Center compound.